LEARN NC

North Carolina History Digital Textbook Project

The Great Depression: Impact over time

By Kristin Post

1.1 Lesson plan: The Great Depression

By Kristin Post

Provided by UNC Libraries / Documenting the American South

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • assess the impact of the economy on individual lives and choices, particularly a woman’s choices
  • discuss the theme of self-sufficiency or scarcity as it relates to the Great Depression
  • understand that the impact of the Great Depression extends further than the dates when it is considered to have taken place
  • critically reflect on the causes and impacts of the Great Depression

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 class period

Materials/Resources

You may also wish to print out the transcripts of the interviews for the students.

Technology resources

  • speakers
  • computer
  • headphones (preferred)
  • CD player (in lieu of the computer, speakers and internet connection, if you have burned your own CD)

Pre-activities

Teacher preparation

  1. Listen to the oral histories. Read through the teacher’s guides.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the following places in North Carolina: Madison County, Barnardsville, (where Stan Hyatt and his grandmother lived), Asheville, and Mars Hill. Hyatt attended North Buncombe High School.

Audio preparation

  1. If you are playing audio from a CD player, you will not require a computer or speakers. In this situation, you will want to download the oral histories ahead of time and burn them onto a CD.
  2. If you are playing the oral histories from a computer and speakers in your classroom, you can play it live from the website or download the audio to your computer and play it with a variety of audio players that may be installed on your computer.
  3. If you are going to use the computer lab, you do not have to download the oral histories. You and your students can simply listen to the audio excerpts included in this lesson plan.
  4. Before you use the computer lab, you should ensure every student will have a computer and headphones. Also, ensure that the volume on all of the computers is not muted, and is not too loud.

Consult UNC’s Resources for Teachers: Audio Toolkit if you wish to know more about downloading or playing audio files.

Activities

Introductory discussion

  1. Discuss what your students know so far about the Great Depression, referring to your textbook or other classroom materials. They should have some background in the Great Depression before starting this lesson.
  2. Using the textbook, identify answers to:
    • What key facts are considered important in the textbook?
    • Who were the United States Presidents and North Carolina governors during this time?
    • Who was affected?
    • What were some of the responses from the United States government during this time?
  3. If you have photographs, use them to illustrate the impact of the Great Depression and the widespread poverty.

Background information for the oral histories

Define terms and phrases used in the oral history (if necessary):

  • self-sufficient (excerpt 2)
  • leased the farmland (excerpt 2)
  • Great Depression (excerpt 3)
  • pessimistic (excerpt 5)
  • “Ingles at Mars Hill” (Ingles is a grocery store located in a nearby town, Mars Hill, mentioned in excerpt 5)

Optional

  1. Introduce the geography. Hang your North Carolina map up on the classroom wall, and ask students to identify prominent landmarks that will be mentioned in the oral histories: Madison County, Asheville, Barnardsville, and Mars Hill.
  2. Ask the students to find their hometown on the map, and judge the distance to Asheville or other places mentioned.

Activity 1: Stan Hyatt’s family

Part 1: Generations

  1. Hand out the oral history transcripts or have your students access them in the For Students section if they are listening on their own in the computer lab.
  2. Using your Generations teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  3. Using your Generations teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  4. Play the Generations oral history excerpt. Running time: 44 seconds.
  5. Using your Generations teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Part 2: Grandmother

  1. Tell students, “Next, you will listen to an excerpt that introduces Stan Hyatt’s grandmother and how she earned a living.”
  2. Using your Grandmother teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Grandmother oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 8 seconds.
  4. Using your Grandmother teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Activity 2: The impact of the Great Depression

  1. Before listening to the next excerpt, have the students make predictions. Tell them, “We already know a little about Stan Hyatt’s grandmother. She was alive during the Great Depression and felt its impact.”
  2. Using your Impact teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  3. Using your Impact teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  4. Play the Impact oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 32 seconds.
  5. Using your Impact teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Activity 3: Father and son

  1. Using your Father and Son teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Father and Son teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Father and Son oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 23 seconds.
  4. Using your Father and Son teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Activity 4: Future economy

  1. On a sheet of paper, students will draw a line through the vertical center, labeling one half “positive impacts” and the other half “negative impacts.”
  2. Based on what students have heard so far, they will spend a few minutes filling out their sheet with positive and negative impacts of the Great Depression, as described by Stan Hyatt.
  3. Using your Future Economy teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  4. Using your Future Economy teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  5. Play the Future Economy oral history excerpt. Running time: 2 minutes 34 seconds.
  6. Using your Future Economy teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Assessment

Imagine it is 2026, and the United States stock market has recently crashed. You are now ____ years old. Write a personal essay about what impact the stock market crash has on your life. Remember, because of what you learned in your 8th grade social studies class, (or 10th grade Economics and Civics class), you know what happened to Americans in the 1930s during the Great Depression. When you heard the oral histories in class in the year ______, you decided to be prepared in case this sort of thing happened again. Explain what you learned from Stan Hyatt and his grandmother, and how you used that knowledge to prepare for a second Great Depression. Describe how your life is better than it would have been if you had not been prepared.

Alternative assessment

Students will interview a grandparent or parent about what they know about the Great Depression. Students will ask specific questions about how it may have affected their lives. Students will write up a short history of the affect of the Great Depression in their families.